14.2 million Brits bombarded by SMS spam

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A staggering 148.43 million spam texts are received by GB consumers
every month, according to AdaptiveMobile,
the world leader in mobile security. The YouGov online study of over
1,000 consumers who had received text message spam found that it was
rated the most annoying form of spam (41%) ahead of email (36%) and
physical junk mail (17%).

“Many people will have experienced the irritation of receiving unwanted
marketing calls or spam texts”

“What starts as an annoyance can very quickly turn into fraud,” says
Ciaran Bradley, VP Handset Security, AdaptiveMobile. “We’ve seen this
happen in America over the last few years and with 60% of the British
population having received unsolicited messages, this is becoming an
important issue for the mobile ecosystem. If we act now, there is no
reason why we cannot get rid of this headache entirely and preserve a
channel which is very much trusted by the nation.”

Despite these problems, SMS is still one of the nation’s most trusted
ways of communicating. 17% of consumers who would trust a common digital
channel ranked SMS as most trusted, second only to email (60%) on an
index of trust around receiving messages from an unknown company or
individual. However, this trust can often be abused: almost a quarter of
those who have received junk SMS messages (22%) have replied ‘opt out’
or ‘stop’ , which tells spammers that phones are active. Unfortunately,
almost half (48%) of consumers who have replied to text message spam get
more spam, receive unwanted calls or may have money charged to their
account.

“Many people will have experienced the irritation of receiving unwanted
marketing calls or spam texts,” says Stephen Eckersley, Head of
Enforcement at the Information Commissioner’s Office. “Better mobile
controls can help to reduce the amount of spam texts an individual
receives. We are currently working to identify companies who continue to
send out spam in breach of the law and we have the power to issue a
monetary penalty of up to £500,000 against the worst offenders.”

In the case of money being taken following an SMS spam scam, the
research uncovered that such thefts could go unnoticed for months.
According to the research, 14% of respondents would not query
discrepancies on their mobile bills with their operator until they
reached over £5 per month, which could add up to £20.4m every month,
across the population, landing in the pockets of thieves.

“29% of those that have received text spam claim that they would leave
their operator if they received between 11 and 30 spam text messages a
month. Unfortunately, one in eight of those who get spam at least once a
month (16%) are already receiving these levels,” concluded Bradley.
“There is clear concern that unless SMS spam is eradicated, operators
will experience significant churn. There needs to be a much better way
of reporting spam – with only 6% having reported spam to their operator
or a consumer forum (2%), some respondents simply don’t know what to do
with it (8%). Operators, content aggregators, security providers and
regulators need to work together to expose the spammers and share data
on the culprits to ensure the problem can be solved once and for all.”

-ends-

Notes to editors:

Total sample size for the YouGov Plc. survey was 2016 adults, of which
1229 had ever received a spam text message. Fieldwork was undertaken
between 29th - 31st October 2012. The survey was carried out online. The
figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged
18+).

Figure of 14.2 million Brits who are bombarded by SMS spam represents
49% of respondents who have received mobile spam and receive it once a
week or more extrapolated to the total GB adult population (47.75
million according to latest
ONS figures)

Figure of 148.43 million spam texts received every month calculated
from findings showing 48.66% of GB population receive spam every month
extrapolated to the total GB adult population - 23.24 million. The
amount received every month as a percentage of the total GB population
was then added together (10% received one text added to 18% (x2) who
received two messages and so on)

Figure of 17% who ranked SMS as most trusted is a percentage of those
who would trust a common digital channel from the list of Facebook,
Twitter, SMS, Email, Instant Messaging (21% of overall respondents)

Figure of £20.4m every month, across the GB population, landing in the
pockets of thieves represents 15% of the 28.58 million Brits that have
received spam (4.07 million) multiplied by £5.01 per month

In response to these findings AdaptiveMobile is launching its Facebook
consumer spam reporting app. AdaptiveMobile’s approach is an
evolution from traditional spam reporting methods, removing the onus on
consumers to remember shortcode numbers, and moving spam reporting into
the social media age. Available soon will be the SpamGuard app for
Android smartphones, enabling subscribers to report unwanted messages to
their network operator from their mobile device in just one click.
Operators will also be able to import AdaptiveMobile’s Facebook app to
their existing Facebook presence, giving subscribers another easy way of
reporting spam. These tools will give operators accurate evidence of
threats and the ability to take direct action against them, to help
solve the global issue of SMS spam.

About AdaptiveMobile:

AdaptiveMobile is the world leader in mobile security, enabling trusted
networks for the world’s largest operator groups and protecting one in
six subscribers globally. AdaptiveMobile provides Operators with the
most comprehensive network-based security solutions enabling them to
protect their consumer and enterprise customers against the growing
threat of mobile abuse. www.adaptivemobile.com
/ @AdaptiveMobile /#GSIMVI